ELYSBURG — It was a motorcycle ride Dennis Oldt and Jim Wentworth have done many times before, feeling the cool breeze in their faces with buddies to their left and to their right, while paying tribute to fellow veterans.
No matter where or when, Oldt says, each ride brings out a new feeling of pride for the American Legion Riders.
“We’re just veterans out helping other veterans,” said Oldt, of New Berlin, who served four years in the Air Force. “All veterans are family. We may come from different areas, but we all share the pride of serving our country.”
Wentworth, of Tamaqua, who served with the Army in the Gulf War, shares the same enjoyment of riding motorcycles for a good cause. In fact, he has been doing it for the past six years with his Region 6, Chapter 173, of the American Legion Riders.
“We all fought for the same cause, and we share the same love for riding,” Wentworth said. “It’s a simple match. Add in the great causes we help, and there is your icing on the cake.”
Oldt and Wentworth were among a collection of veterans riding Saturday in the All Home Days veterans tribute in Elysburg. The group, which was joined by fellow veterans, re-enacted a battlefield memorial in honor of the lost soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan at the “Field of Flags” at the Ralpho Township Community Park.
Sol Bidding, a former Marine sergeant and current member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8354 in Kulpmont, helped coordinate the memorial, which was set amidst 4,128 flags dotting the grassy area next to the annual All Homes Days celebration.
As a Vietnam veteran, Bidding said he saw first-hand the tragedy of war. Looking at the flags evoked many images he lived through for a year in 1963 serving as a fact finder for the U.S. Marine Corps, Bidding said.
“It’s the same thing that went through my mind when I was an honor guard at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Washington D.C.),” Bidding said. “That wall has 58,226 names, and here we have 4,128 flags, but the honor we give is the same. It’s something you can’t explain in words.”
Bidding added, “One of those names (on the Vietnam War Memorial) is a guy who had shrapnel go through him. Because of that, he saved my life. He’s dead, and I’m here. You can’t forget those things.”
Walt Summers, post commander of the VFW Post 2710 in Mount Carmel and a Korean War veteran, said the “Field of Flags” was an emotional sight.
“I look at these flags and realize each of them symbolize a life given up for our country,” Summers said. “It hits you hard. Unless you been there, you have no idea what they went through.”
Summers is also a member of the Mount Carmel Area Joint Veterans Honor Guard, which attends many area military funerals. According to him, there have been way too many lately.
“We had 48 funerals last year, and already we’ve had 40 this year,” Summers said. “Every coffin we cover with a flag takes a little more out of me.”
-- E-mail comments to jnorth@dailyitem.com.
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Veterans always ready to ride ... and remember
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